Thursday, February 23, 2012

honda minivan recall

honda minivan recall

Honda is recalling nearly 46,000 Odyssey minivans because the rear doors can fall on people unexpectedly, and have on at least two occasions.The problem affects minivans from the 2008 and 2009 model years that have power lift gates.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says on its website that gas can leak out of the struts that support the lift gates. The doors could close unexpectedly, increasing the risk of injuries.

Honda says the problem has caused two minor injuries. The company will replace both power liftgate struts for free.

Honda will send letters to van owners next month with instructions about the recall.

After Honda has been informed on several occasions that its Odyssey minivans present some glitches with the rear doors, the company finally decided to take action. As a result, 46,000 Honda Odyssey minivans are recalled in the United States. Find out which models are subjected to the recall.

According to a report published by the Associated Press, Honda announced it recalls 46,000 of its Odyssey minivans over concerns that its rear doors can cause victims. In fact, it seems that there have been at least two situations, so far, when an Odyssey minivan’s rear doors have fallen on people without notice.U.S. authorities informed this Wednesday that the Japanese automaker Honda is currently checking out several thousands of Odyssey minivans models dating back to 2008 and 2009. The reason behind the recall is to fix a glitch with the power tailgate.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website published a statement saying that Honda’s minivans are recalled to fix a “manufacturing flaw” in the pressurized gas filled struts. These are used to operate the lift gate in vehicles that employ the system. The authority warned that the glitch increases “the risk of personal injury” as there is the potential hazard of gas leaks.

As of March, owners of the 2008 – 2009 Odyssey minivans will receive instructions from Honda regarding the recall. The actual operation will begin March 13 but you can call Honda at 1-800-999-1009 for more information on the matter.

This is not the first time Honda’s minivans come up with glitches. The NHTSA has previously asked Honda to address the issue of what it called an “unreasonable risk of injury”. In 2009, Honda was advised to recall 22,000 Odyssey minivans dating back to year of production 2005, but the automaker refused.

The Japanese company argued that “it respectfully declines the staff’s request for a safety recall of these vehicles”, adding that in their opinion the struts’ glitch was just an inconvenience and not a safety flaw.

However, one year later, Honda initiated a safety improvement campaign. In other words, it did fix the glitch for free and affected owners got new struts.

Honda is recalling some of its previous-generation Odyssey minivans due to potentially faulty gas-filled struts on vehicles equipped with a power rear liftgate. A total of 45,747 vehicles are affected by this recall, all of which are from the 2008 and 2009 model years.

According to the official release from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the faulty struts in these vehicles are prone to early life failures due to a "manufacturing flaw" (that's as specific as it gets), an issue that can result in the leak of pressurized gas. These struts aid in opening and closing the power liftgate, and if there isn't enough pressurized gas in the strut, performance can be diminished and can lead to unexpected liftgate closure, potentially causing an injury.

Honda will notify its owners beginning in mid-March, and dealers will replace both gas struts free of charge. For the full details, follow the jump to read NHTSA's report.